It's back to work for Bruins

Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien was feeling all the good vibes fresh off the Eastern Conference’s 12-11 victory in the NHL All-Star bame.

MICK COLAGEO

Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien was feeling all the good vibes fresh off the Eastern Conference’s 12-11 victory in the NHL All-Star Game.

But his weekend ended a day sooner than it did for the Bruins stars whose showcase performances made the coach proud.

Zdeno Chara broke Al Iafrate’s slapshot record, Marc Savard wowed his teammates and the crowd with some spectacular setups, Tim Thomas got the win for the second year in a row, and rookie Blake Wheeler scored a hat trick to take the MVP in the Young Stars game.They all got yesterday’s practice off, but not Julien.

“I’ve got no choice, I’ve got a two o’clock practice,” he said Sunday night. “Our guys here (in Montreal) are going to get a break, a well-deserved break. I’ve got a job to do.”

Tonight’s home game against the Washington Capitals is more than the first game of the rest of the season. It sounds sacrilegious to suggest, but it’s every bit as big as Sunday’s nationally televised matinee against the Canadiens back in Montreal.

The Bruins (34-8-5) have solved the Habs this season, having won three straight against their archrivals. The formula to beating Boston has been an elusive for Montreal and just about everyone else except for the Capitals (30-15-3), who are 2-0 head-to-head against the Bruins and ranked second in the conference.

Boston hasn’t played badly in 3-1 and 2-1 road losses to Washington, but that’s not necessarily good news because it means something’s up when these teams meet that doesn’t work in the Bruins’ favor. How they fare against the Capitals in their two home games – the Caps visit again on Feb. 28 – is significant at least in view of the proposition that, if the season ended at the All-Star break, the Bruins and Caps would be seeded to meet in the Stanley Cup semifinals.

The dynamic between the teams is most compelling not because of the five goals Washington has scored but because Boston has managed just two. Alex Ovechkin is always trouble, but he’s not the reason the Bruins go anemic offensively against Washington.

It’s because the middle of the Caps’ lineup at forward and defense is rich in speed and size – in the same bodies. Two more losses to the Caps and it’s conceivable that the Bruins could finish with the NHL’s best record and be an underdog in a playoff series.

Coming off a difficult stretch, the Bruins have had their own issues with injuries, and only a gutsy comeback effort in Toronto turned what could have been a 4-4-1 skid into the All-Star break into 5-3-1.

Except for Patrice Bergeron’s Dec. 20 concussion, the final two months of 2008 were surreal for the Bruins, who gained separation in the standings with an 11-1-1 November and a 12-1 December.

The new year has been a different story. Goal scoring is been a challenge since Marco Sturm had season-ending knee surgery and Phil Kessel was beset with mononucleosis. Kessel skated yesterday, and Milan Lucic, who has been reportedly nursing a shoulder injury, said he’s ready to go. Bergeron is increasing his workload in practice, albeit without a timetable.

Even with players working their way back, maintaining their 10-point, conference-standings lead sounds nearly prohibitive, especially in light of a post-break week with home games against Washington, New Jersey and the N.Y. Rangers and a road game against Montreal. But, when interviewed by Hockey Night in Canada during its All-Star Game telecast, Julien didn’t hesitate to exude optimism.

“We’re starting to get some people back so I hope we’ll play again like we did in November and December,” he told the CBC from the bench.

The last two road games the Bruins lost were both to Washington, and Boston was 7-0 on the road in between. Every team has its Kryptonite, and Washington packs a glowing green wallop when Boston is the opponent. Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli has five weeks to evaluate his club before the March 4 trade deadline.

His time to decide what he’s got for a hockey team begins in earnest tonight.